Is this feasible?

[Tetsujin]

Team A trades for a high-priced player, takes on a lot of guaranteed money, in exchange for a good draft pick from Team B. Buying a draft pick.

That's happened before. 

But then, Team A has the cap room luxury to accelerate a lot of the players money into the first year with the team as a signing bonus, therefor decreasing greatly the amount of guaranteed money over the rest of the contract. This makes him a strong trade target for other teams, then he gets flipped to Team C for another draft pick.

Wouldn't this be a good move for an expansion franchise, who have a blank salary slate Year One, if they really don't mind sucking for the first 2 years? Take on a couple of big dead money contracts to get future picks, especially if the picks are 2-3 years from now, which Team B might gladly do.

[Forge]

Yes, you can do it. 

I remember this type of idea getting a little bit of run when the Lions acquired Goff. 

[Soko]

1 hour ago, Tetsujin said:

Wouldn't this be a good move for an expansion franchise, who have a blank salary slate Year One, if they really don't mind sucking for the first 2 years? Take on a couple of big dead money contracts to get future picks, especially if the picks are 2-3 years from now, which Team B might gladly do.

In theory, yes, but I don’t imagine many owners (especially ones to an expansion franchise) would be keen on dishing out money this way, at least as a staple of their team-building. A one-off here or there, sure.

[Tetsujin]

43 minutes ago, Soko said:

In theory, yes, but I don’t imagine many owners (especially ones to an expansion franchise) would be keen on dishing out money this way, at least as a staple of their team-building. A one-off here or there, sure.

It’d just be the first couple of years of the franchise instead of signing a bunch of medium and higher priced vets.

[scar988]

Is it possible? of course. Is it likely for a team to do this? no.

[Soko]

2 hours ago, Tetsujin said:

It’d just be the first couple of years of the franchise instead of signing a bunch of medium and higher priced vets.

Owners are cheap, much cheaper than you might think. I imagine an excited group of rich owners would rather get out the gates with a bang than they would expecting to suck for multiple years.

[Wyld Stallyns]

You have to have all guaranteed money on hand (not locked up in other investments) to ensure the viability of the money per CBA (a rule created in a time where teams still had the threat of going bankrupt) Some owners as @Soko mentions aren’t that willing or able to do that depending on the amount of guarantees 

[stl4life07]

Why can’t teams trade their picks for cash considerations? The NBA does it. For example, a team strapped for cap or going to be strapped for cap could trade their 2nd or 3rd round pick for cash to help them that way they don’t have to cut a player or trade a player or even restructure a contract to help with cap space.

[jrry32]

I don't see why not.

Edited April 29, 2023 by jrry32